Receipts

Receipts confirm donations and serve as the donor's tax-deductible record. GiveForms ships three receipt PDF templates — Gift Receipt for completed donations, Refund Receipt for full refunds, and Partial Refund Receipt for partial refunds — that automatically attach to the appropriate donor emails.

Receipts are legal and financial documents, not emotional ones. The editing experience is field-based rather than rich-text: a small number of customization controls plus structured data that auto-populates from each donation.

For context on how receipts fit into the wider email system, see How emails and receipts work.

Opening the editor

1. In the campaign editor, click Emails & Receipts.
2. In the left sidebar of the Emails & Receipts editor, click Receipts.
3. Three tabs at the top: Gift Receipt, Refund Receipt, and Partial Refund Receipt. Customize each separately.

Which receipt attaches where

Each receipt is automatically attached to the relevant donor email:

• Gift Receipt — attached to the Thank You email for credit card and other instant-clear payments. For ACH (bank account) donations, it attaches to the ACH Processed email instead (see ACH emails). Each installment of a recurring donation generates its own Gift Receipt — a monthly donor receives twelve receipts a year, one per charge.
• Refund Receipt — attached to the Full Refund email when you issue a full refund. See Refund emails.
• Partial Refund Receipt — attached to the Partial Refund email when you issue a partial refund.

Customizable fields

Each receipt has a small set of editable fields. Most are shared across all three; one is unique to Gift Receipt.

• Receipt Logo — the logo displayed in the top right of the receipt. Defaults to the email logo set in Email template; toggle "Same as Email logo" off and upload a different image if you want a distinct mark for formal documents. Recommended size 160px × 160px.
• Title — the heading displayed prominently at the top of the receipt PDF. Defaults are "Gift Receipt" and "Refund Receipt" — note that both refund receipts default to "Refund Receipt," so if you want donors to distinguish a partial refund from a full one at a glance, change the Partial Refund Receipt title.
• Receipt Signature — Gift Receipt only. A signature image (200px tall), a Name, and a Title/Organization line. Refund receipts don't have a signature block; a signed acknowledgment fits a gift, an unsigned record fits a refund.
• Footnote — the small print at the bottom of the receipt. Defaults differ per receipt; see the editorial sections below.

Auto-populated content

Most of what appears on the receipt isn't editable here — it pulls from your organization settings and from the donation itself:

• Organization block (top of receipt) — name, address, website, phone, and Tax ID. All from organization settings. If anything here is wrong, fix it in organization settings, not in the receipt editor.
• Gift Info — donation amount, date, designation, payment method, frequency. From the donation record.
• Refund Info (refund receipts only) — refund amount, refund date, and for partial refunds, the net donation amount.
• Donor Info — name, email, phone number, address. From the donation record.

Two practical implications worth knowing. First, a Tax ID error means every receipt you've sent is wrong, so verify it in organization settings before donors start using receipts for tax filing. Second, donor info on a receipt reflects what was captured at the time of donation; later changes to a donor's record don't retroactively update receipts already sent.

Gift Receipt

The Gift Receipt is the donor's tax-deductible acknowledgment for a completed donation. It's the most-used receipt by volume and the one most likely to end up in a donor's tax-filing folder. This is also the only receipt with a Receipt Signature — the signed acknowledgment is what makes it feel like a formal record from your organization rather than a system-generated confirmation.

Editorial guidance:

• Receipt Logo. Keeping it as the email logo creates visual continuity between the email body and the attached PDF. Upload separately only if your organization uses a different mark for formal documents.
• Title. "Gift Receipt" is clear and standard. "Donation Receipt" or "Tax Receipt" also work. Keep it short.
• Receipt Signature. Use a real signature from a real person — the executive director, the development director, or the board chair. A real signature adds credibility and the personal touch a printed name can't. Match the Name and Title/Organization to the actual signer.
• Footnote. The default "No goods or services were received in return for this gift" is the standard IRS-compliant language for charitable acknowledgments. Don't change it unless your tax counsel specifically recommends different wording for your situation.

Refund Receipt

The Refund Receipt documents a full refund. It's the cleanest of the three — gift info, refund info, donor info, no signature.

Editorial guidance:

• Title. "Refund Receipt" is clear. "Donation Refund" or "Refund Confirmation" are reasonable alternatives.
• Footnote. The default "If you claimed this donation as a tax deduction, please consult your tax advisor regarding this refund" addresses a real concern: donors who deducted the original gift on their taxes may need to amend their return when a refund happens. This default protects both your organization and the donor; keep it unless tax counsel recommends different.

Partial Refund Receipt

The Partial Refund Receipt documents a partial refund — issued only when a donor specifically asks for one (see Refund emails). The structural difference from the full Refund Receipt is the Net Donation line: the receipt shows what the donor kept after the partial refund, which is the amount that's still tax-deductible.

Editorial guidance:

• Title. Defaults to "Refund Receipt" — the same as the full refund. If you want donors to see at a glance that this is a partial refund (and not a full one), change the title to "Partial Refund Receipt" or similar. It's the simplest change that meaningfully clarifies the document.
• Footnote. Same tax-implication framing as the full Refund Receipt. Keep the default.

Saving and publishing

Edits to receipts are saved as drafts. Use the publish controls in the top right to ship changes:

• Publish this Email — publishes only the currently-edited receipt tab. The label still says "Email" on the Receipts tab; the action publishes the receipt.
• Publish All Emails — publishes every edited email and receipt in the campaign.

A dot indicator appears next to Receipts in the left sidebar when there are unpublished changes. See How emails and receipts work for the full publish flow.